Last Updated on August 24, 2026 by Bala Kumar
Defending EPT Barcelona Main Event champion Thomas Eychenne had one of the more unusual days of the festival so far: he won a title in the morning, then sat down for the flagship €5,300 Main Event with barely enough chips to survive the night. As of August 24, 2026, the French pro is still alive in the tournament he won last year, just barely.
What Actually Happened
Eychenne first led the final 14 players in the €2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller and went on to win it, banking a portion of the €589,395 prize pool attached to that event. Hours later, he sat down for Day 1b of the €5,300 EPT Main Event, the same tournament he won in 2025 for over €1.2 million, and bagged just 14,500 chips at the end of the night, a short stack relative to the starting stack of 30,000. He’ll need to build significantly on Day 2 if he wants any real shot at defending his title.
It’s a genuinely rare double: winning one tournament and immediately grinding into a short stack in another on the same day, at the same festival, defending the exact title he claimed twelve months earlier.
Main Event Chip Counts So Far
The €5,300 Main Event has run two starting flights to date, with a third day of late registration still open:
| Flight | Entries | Advanced To Day 2 | Chip Leader | Leading Stack | Day 1a | 635 | 193 | Michael Dwyer (Ireland) | 363,500 | | Day 1b | 1,049 | 342 | Bharath Janardhan (India) | 321,000 | | Total so far | 1,684 | 535 |
Starting stacks are 30,000 chips, with one re-entry permitted and late registration open into Day 2. For comparison, last year’s Main Event ultimately drew 2,045 total entries, meaning this year’s field, with more late registration still to come, is tracking toward a similar range but hasn’t yet confirmed whether it will match or exceed 2025’s mark.
The Record Eychenne Is Chasing (And Defending)
Last year’s EPT Barcelona Main Event was one of the largest in tour history: 2,045 entries generated a €9,918,250 prize pool, the third-largest in EPT history at the time. Eychenne beat that field for his first career EPT title, agreeing to a heads-up deal with Romania’s Sebastian Ionita that paid him €1,217,175 against Ionita’s €1,117,175.
That makes this year’s storyline a genuine two-part question: can the 2026 field top 2025’s near-€10 million prize pool, and can Eychenne become the first back-to-back EPT Barcelona Main Event champion in recent tour history while doing it from a short stack?
Other Names Still In The Field
Several recognizable players survived into Day 2 alongside Eychenne, including former EPT Main Event champions Sebastian Malec and Jan Bendik, and PokerStars ambassadors Raul Mestre and Marle Spragg. Not everyone survived the two opening flights — former champions Kevin MacPhee, Manig Loeser, and Robin Ylitalo were among the players eliminated before bagging chips for Day 2.
The Wider Barcelona Picture This Week
Eychenne’s short stack isn’t the only story developing at Casino Barcelona right now. Tom Fuchs already claimed the week’s first major title, taking down the €100,000 Super High Roller on August 22 for €1,126,540. Jason Wheeler won the earlier €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event for €731,000. With the €5,300 Main Event still building through late registration and the festival running through August 29, several more results are still to come.
Why This Matters If You’re Following EPT Barcelona
Eychenne’s situation is a useful real-world example of something poker commentators talk about constantly but rarely get to illustrate this cleanly: a short stack on Day 1 is not remotely a dead tournament, especially in a multi-day EPT structure with re-entry and deep starting stacks. At 30,000 starting chips, a 14,500 bag is roughly a third of an average big blind stack at Day 2 levels — playable, but it demands an early double-up. Whether Eychenne can pull off the double title defense from here is exactly the kind of storyline that makes multi-day tournament poker worth following live rather than just checking the final result.
FAQs
Did Thomas Eychenne bust out of the EPT Barcelona Main Event?
No. As of August 24, 2026, Eychenne is still alive in the tournament, having bagged a short stack of 14,500 chips at the end of Day 1b.
What did Thomas Eychenne win right before playing the Main Event?
He won the €2,700 PokerStars Open High Roller, a separate event at the same EPT Barcelona festival, just hours before sitting down for Day 1b of the Main Event.
How big was the EPT Barcelona Main Event field in 2025 compared to 2026 so far?
The 2025 Main Event drew 2,045 total entries and a €9,918,250 prize pool. As of the end of Day 1b in 2026, the field already stands at 1,684 entries across two flights, with late registration still open into Day 2.
Who is the current chip leader in the 2026 EPT Barcelona Main Event?
After two starting flights, India’s Bharath Janardhan holds the largest reported stack at 321,000 chips, followed closely by Ireland’s Michael Dwyer, who led Day 1a with 363,500.
How much did Thomas Eychenne win for the 2025 EPT Barcelona Main Event?
He earned €1,217,175 after agreeing to a heads-up deal with runner-up Sebastian Ionita, out of a total prize pool of €9,918,250.
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